Bentoel race draws 40 foreign riders

JAKARTA (JP): French defending champion Sebastian Tortelli, the current world leader in the 125cc Motocross World Championship, will spearhead 40 foreign crossers for the Bentoel World Motocross race in Yogyakarta next week.

Tortelli, who won last year's event on the same track, and 15 top riders at the 5th series of the world event concluded last Sunday in Hungary, are to compete in Yogyakarta.

"Fifteen best crossers in the fifth round of the championships in Hungary will participate in the 6th series of the World Championship in Yogya. Crossers from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, England and the Netherlands will also participate," said chairman of the organizing committee Dolly Indra Nasution.

Tortelli, who leads the series with 158 points, Sweden Bob Moore, 1994 World Champion, fellow countryman Markus Hansson, former 550cc World Champion and last year's World Champion Alessandro Puzar will aslo in the fray in Yogyakarta.

Farryd Sungkar, secretary of the organizer, said that there will be a qualifying round if more than 40 crossers participate in the event, which will be staged from June 1 to June 2.

Dolly said that the Federation of International Motocross has submitted a notice that during last year's race the track was found to be too dusty.

The motor sport world governing body on the other hand praised Indonesia's success in terms of spectators who attended the race. The race attracted some 35,000, the world's largest number to watch a world championship motocross in 1995.

According to a Federation of International Motocross report there were only some 7,000 spectators at the Italian motocross, 15,000 at England's, 10,000 at Czech Republic's, 12,000 at France's, 8,000 at Germany's and 6,500 at Holland's.

"In Yogyakarta we have the largest number of spectators so far," Dolly said.

The organizer will build 12 wells around the circuit and provide water trucks to keep down the dust.

This year, the world series will be staged in 12 rounds. The first to fifth round took place in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands and Hungary. The next event, after Yogyakarta, will move to France, England, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechoslovakia and Germany. (yan)